The head of the United Nations monitoring mission to Syria has suspended its
activities because of fears for the safety of its observers amid
“intensifying” violence.

4:02PM BST 16 Jun 2012

In yet another sign that the Syrian conflict is spiralling into full-blown civil war, General Robert Mood, the mission’s Canadian leader, said his teams of unarmed observers would cease their monitoring duties because of escalating clashes on either side.

General Mood’s decision on Saturday to confine his staff to their headquarters in Damascus comes after one of their patrols were attacked on Tuesday by supporters of President Bashar al-Assad. Shots were fired and stones and metal rods thrown at their car after they tried unsuccessfully to visit the Syrian coastal town of Haffeh.

“There has been an intensification of armed violence across Syria over the past 10 days,” Genera Mood said. “The lack of willingness by the parties to seek a peaceful transition, and the push towards advancing military positions is increasing the losses on both sides.”

"UN observers will not be conducting patrols and will stay in their locations until further notice. Operations will resume when we see the situation fit for us to carry out our mandated activities."

He added that the observers would not leave the country, and that the suspension would be reviewed on a daily basis.

General Mood is expected to brief the UN Security Council on Monday about the worsening security situation in Syria, which has effectively made a mockery of the peace plan sponsored by the former UN secretary general, Kofi Annan.

Hundreds of people, including civilians, rebels and government forces, have been killed in the two months since Mr Annan’s ceasefire deal was supposed to come into effect.

The violence has increased sharply this month, with rebels formally abandoning any commitment to Mr Annan’s ceasefire and government forces using attack helicopters and artillery to pound opposition strongholds into submission.

On May 15, a roadside bomb damaged observers’ cars shortly after they met with Syrian rebels in the northern town of Khan Sheikoun. A week earlier, a roadside bomb struck a Syrian military truck in the south of the country just seconds after General Mood drove by in a convoy.

Their presence has been an important source of independent information, particularly as Syria bars journalists from reporting freely in the country. But prominent activist Rami Abdul-Rahman, of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said it was better for the United Nations teams to leave.

“We haven’t seen anything beneficial from them. If they are independent - so what?” he said. “A lot of crimes happened in Syria, and they couldn’t do anything.”

The pro-opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that at least 22 civilians were killed on Saturday, most of them in army shelling on the eastern suburbs of Damascus.

Activists also reported gunfire in the Mezze neighbourhood of the capital, and bombardment of rebel strongholds in the central city of Homs which they said killed five people..

France said on Friday night that it was seriously concerned about what it said were reports of an imminent large-scale operation against Homs.

“The bloody repression led by Syrian authorities, which is intolerable and has caused tens of deaths in recent days, must come to an end,” a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said.

An estimated 10,000 people have died so far in the 15-month uprising against President Bashar-al Assad’s rule. Syrian authorities blame the violence on foreign-backed Islamists who they say have killed at least 2,600 police and soldiers.